Joel Hamernick

Getting the Blues

“cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. . .
by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground. . . ”

The experience of John Milton as expressed in Paradise Lost:

“O miserable of happy! Is this the end
Of this new glorious world, and me so late
The glory of the glory, who now, become
Accursed of blessed.
What Can I increase,
Or multiply but curses on my head?”

The experience of Muddy Waters:

“Well if I feel like tomorrow, like I feel today
I’m gonna pack my suitcase, and make my getaway.
I be troubled, I’m all worried in mind,
And I never be satisfied, And I just can’t keep from cryin’.”

“[The]Exile [we find in scripture] points us to our lostness, wandering. . . We want to rush on in the biblical story. We want to rush on in our lives. We want Easter Sunday, when the sun rises and the morning returns the light. The blues makes us wait in darkness.”

Adapted from Stephen Nichols “Getting the Blues, what blues music teaches us about suffering and salvation” Brazos Press, 2008.